Roll of Honor
Incident
Patrolman Van Zilen was killed in an automobile accident while escorting the Chief of another agency to an address in the city of Leonia. Patrolman Van Zilen had been with the agency for one year.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-NJ-72B7E40F- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
You barely got started.
Patrolman Van Zilen gave the Leonia Police Department 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the Leonia community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman Van Zilen.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Patrolman Theodore Van Zilen is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In NJ, 258 of 646 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.9% of this state's fallen. That is 8.9 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Theodore Van Zilen's cause is highlighted.
How Theodore Van Zilen Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Theodore Van Zilen is highlighted in Aug.